11 LANDSCAPE AND VISUAL IMPACTS

11.1 Legislation and Standards

11.1.1 The following legislation, standards and guidelines are applicable to landscape and visual impact assessment associated with the construction and operation of the Project:

(1) Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (Cap.499.S.16) and the Technical Memorandum on EIA Process (EIAO TM), particularly Annexes 3,10,11 and 18;

(2) Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance Guidance Note 8/2010;

(3) Town Planning Board Guideline No. 41 – Guideline on submissions of Visual Impact Assessment for Planning Applications to the Town Planning Board;

(4) Town Planning Ordinance (Cap 131);

(5) Forests and Countryside Ordinance (Cap 96);

(6) Country Park Ordinance (Cap 208);

(7) Animals and Plants (Protection of Endangered Species) Ordinance (Cap 187);

(8) Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines Chapters 4, 10 and 11;

(9) AFCD Nature Conservation Practice Note No.2 - Measurement of Diameter at Breast Height (DBH);

(10) AFCD Nature Conservation Practice Note No.3 – The Use of Plant Names;

(11) DEVB TCW No. 3/2012 - Site Coverage of Greenery for Government Building Projects;

(12) DEVB TCW No. 2/2013 - Greening on Footbridges and Flyovers;

(13) ETWB TC No. 23/93 – Control of Visual Impact of Slopes;

(14) ETWB TC No. 12/2000 – Improvement to the Appearance of Slopes in Connection with ET WBTC 23/93;

(15) ETWB TC No. 7/2002 – Tree Planting in Public Works;

(16) ETWB TCW No. 2/2004 - Maintenance of Vegetation and Hard Landscape Features;

(17) ETWB TCW No. 29/2004 - Registration of Old and Valuable Trees, and Guidelines for their Preservation;

(18) ETWB TCW No. 10/2013 - Tree Preservation;

(19) ETWB TCW No. 13/2003A - Guidelines and Procedures for Environmental Impact Assessment of Government Projects and Proposals Planning for Provision of Noise Barriers;

(20) ETWB TCW No. 34/2003 – Community Involvement in Greening Works;

(21) ETWB TCW No. 5/2005 - Protection of natural streams/rivers from adverse impacts arising from construction works;

(22) ETWB TCW 8/2005 - Aesthetic Design of Ancillary Buildings in Engineering Projects;

(23) GEO publication No. 1/2011 - Technical Guidelines on Landscape Treatment for Slopes;

(24) GEO Publication (1999) – Use of Vegetation as Surface Protection on Slopes;

(25) GEO Publication No. 6/2007 - Updating of GEO Publication no. 1/2000 - Technical Guidelines on Landscape Treatment and Bio-engineering for Manmade Slopes and Retaining Walls;

(26) Lands Administration Office Guidance Note (LAN GN) No. 7/2007 - Tree Preservation and Tree Removal Application for Building Development in Private Projects;

(27) Land Administration Office Instruction (LAOI) Section D-12 - Tree Preservation;

(28) Government General Regulation 740 – setting out restrictions on the preservation and felling of trees in Hong Kong;

(29) WBTC No. 25/1993 - Control of Visual Impact of Slopes;

(30) WBTC No. 17/2000 - Improvement to the Appearance of Slopes;

(31) WBTC No. 7/2002 - Tree Planting in Public Works;

(32) WBTC No. 36/2004 - Advisory Committee on the Appearance of Bridges and Associated Structures (ACABAS);

(33) DEVB TC(W) No. 2/2013 – Greening on footbridges and Flyovers;

(34) DEVB TC(W) No. 2/2012 – Allocation of Space for Quality Greening on Roads;

(35) ETWB TCW No. 2/2004 - Maintenance of Vegetation and Hard Landscape Features;

(36) Cyber Manual for Greening (GLTM of DEVB);

(37) Guidelines on Greening of Noise Barrier (2012), GLTM of DEVB;

(38) General Guidelines on Tree Pruning, GLTM of DEVB;

(39) Study on Landscape Value Mapping of Hong Kong;

(40) Layman’s guide to landscape treatment of slopes, CEDD;

(41) Landscape Character Map of Hong Kong (2005 Edition);

(42) The Register of Old and Valuable Trees – Hong Kong, maintained by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department;

(43) Study on green roof application in Hong Kong, (16/2/2007) ASCD;

(44) GLTM of DEVB - Skyrise Greenry - Website: http://www.greening.gov.hk/en/new_trend/benefit_of_skyrise.html

(45) Green Inrastructure, GLTM of DEVB - Website: http://www.greening.gov.hk/en/new_trend/green_infrastructure.html

(46) Measures on Tree Preservation, GLTM of DEVB - Website:
http://www.greening.gov.hk/en/management/tree_m_and_m.html#tree_maintenance

(47) Restrictions on the preservation and felling of trees in Hong Kong are specified in Government General Regulation 740. The Forests and Countryside Ordinance (Cap. 96) prohibits felling, cutting, burning or destroying of trees and growing plants in forests and plantations on government land. Its subsidiary regulations prohibit the picking, felling or possession of listed rare and protected plant species. The list of protected species in Hong Kong is defined in the Forestry Regulations, made under Section 3 of the Forests and Countryside Ordinance (Cap. 96).

11.1.2 The Outline Zoning Plan gazetted under the Town Planning Ordinance provides the statutory framework for land use development. Reference has been made to the OZP No.: S/K14N/13-Approved Kwun Tong North Outline Zoning Plan and OZP No. S/SK-TLS/8) Tseng Lan Shue Outline Zoning Plan.

Relevant Outline Zoning Plan of Vicinity

11.1.3 The primary zone of visual influence is covered by ten Outline Zoning Plans (OZPs) as illustrated in Figure 227724/L/2400

(1) Approved Kwun Tong (North) OZP (S/K14N/13);

(2) Approved Kwun Tong (South) OZP (S/K14S/18);

(3) Draft Ngau Tau Kok & Kowloon Bay OZP (S/K13/26);

(4) Approved Tseng Lan Shue OZP (S/SK-TLS/8);

(5) Cha Kwo Ling, Yau Tong & Lei Yue Mun Outline Zoning Plan (S/K15/20);

(6) Kai Tak Outline Zoning Plan (S/K22/4);

(7) Hung Hom Outline Zoning Plan (S/K9/24);

(8) Ma Tau Kok Outline Zoning Plan (S/K10/20);

(9) Tseung Kwan O Outline Zoning Plan (S/TKO/17); and

(10) Ngau Chi Wan Outline Zoning Plan (S/K12/16).

11.1.4 The Study Area falls entirely within Statutory Zone gazetted as Other Specified Uses (OU) under Approved Kwun Tong (North) OZP (S/K14N/13). The notes for this zoning includes house, shop, place of recreation, sports or culture, school, government use and utility installation and therefore the Project is not considered to conflict with this OZP. Landscape Impact Assessment. The Recommended Outline Development Plan (RODP) is summarized in Section 2 and indicated in Figure 227724/L/2100.

11.2 Assessment Methodology

General

11.2.1 The Landscape Impact Assessment Area for the landscape impact assessment includes areas within a 500 m distance from the site boundary of the Project while the Visual Study Area for the visual impact assessment is defined by the visual envelope of the Project. The landscape and visual impact study boundaries are shown in Figures 227724/L/2200, 2300 and Figures 227724/L/2410 to 2440 respectively.

Landscape Impact Assessment

11.2.2 The assessment of landscape impacts has involved the following procedures.

· Identification of the baseline landscape resources (physical and cultural) and landscape characters found within the Landscape Impact Assessment Area. This is achieved by site visit and desktop study of topographical maps, information databases and photographs.

· Assessment of the degree of sensitivity of the landscape resources. This is influenced by a number of factors including whether the resource/character is common or rare, whether it is considered to be of local, regional, national or global importance, whether there are any statutory or regulatory limitations/ requirements relating to the resource, the quality of the resource/character, the maturity of the resource, and the ability of the resource/character to accommodate change.

11.2.3 The sensitivity of each landscape feature and character area is classified as follows:

High:	Important landscape or landscape resource of particularly distinctive character or high importance, sensitive to relatively small changes.
Medium:	Landscape or landscape resource of moderately valued landscape characteristics reasonably tolerant to change.
Low:	Landscape or landscape resource, the nature of which is largely tolerant to change.

· Identification of potential sources of landscape impacts. These are the various elements of the construction works and operation procedures that would generate landscape impacts.

· Identification of the magnitude of landscape changes. The magnitude of change depends on a number of factors including the physical extent of the impact, the landscape and visual context of the impact, the compatibility of the project with the surrounding landscape; and the time-scale of the impact - i.e. whether it is temporary (short, medium or long term), permanent but potentially reversible, or permanent and irreversible. Landscape impacts have been quantified wherever possible.

11.2.4 The magnitude of change is classified as follows:

Large:	The landscape or landscape resource would have a major change.
Intermediate:	The landscape or landscape resource would have a moderate change.
Small:	The landscape or landscape resource would have slight or barely perceptible changes.
Negligible:	The landscape or landscape resource would have no discernible change.

· Identification of potential landscape mitigation measures. These may take the form of adopting alternative designs or revisions to the basic engineering and architectural design to prevent and/or minimize adverse impacts; remedial measures such as colour and textural treatment of building features; and compensatory measures such as the implementation of landscape design measures to compensate for unavoidable adverse impacts and to attempt to generate potentially beneficial long term impacts. A programme for the mitigation measures is provided. The agencies responsible for the funding, implementation, management and maintenance of the mitigation measures are identified.

· Prediction of the significance of landscape impacts before and after the implementation of the mitigation measures. By synthesizing the magnitude of the various changes and the sensitivity of the various landscape resources it is possible to categorise impacts in a logical, well-reasoned and consistent fashion. Table 11.1 shows the rationale for dividing the degree of significance into four thresholds, namely insubstantial, slight, moderate, and substantial, depending on the combination of a negligible-small-intermediate-large magnitude of change and a low-medium-high degree of sensitivity of landscape resource /character.

Table 11.1: Relationship between Landscape Sensitivity and Impact Magnitude in Defining Impact Significance

Magnitude of change (Both Adverse and Beneficial Impact are assessed.)	Large	Moderate	Moderate / Substantial	Substantial
	Intermediate	Slight / Moderate	Moderate	Moderate / Substantial
	1. Small